Los Angeles daily herald., 1887-07-24
CHINATOWN GONE.
rire Breaks Out at Two O'Clock
This Morning.

in Chinatown about five minutes pas
two O'Clock this morning. 1t started
III the gambling den over No. 32
Niger alley, and from the hal
frenzied account of the Chinaman who
was the proprietor OF the game it is
probable that the cause was the ex.
plosion of coal oil lamp. As soon
as the Cinnamon realized that there
was fire i'll the house one of them
rushed into the open air and fired five
shots from his revolver, calling atten-
ton to the fact that there was fire and
at the same time awakening a
! thousand or more of his countrymen.
who acted more as if they were mad
than sane. The shots attracted the
attention of a policeman, who turned
in the alarm, but before this the sky
was illumined with the flames, which
had burst through the roof. BY the time
the department had reached the scene
the street was alive with Chinese in
termixed with whites, who, as soon as
they learned that the blaze was in
Chinatown, fastened to the scene.
Across the street from No. 80 some OF
the Chinese mounted to the roof of
the shanties and played on the dry
shingles with garden hose. This was
before the blaze began to
assume large proportions, and it prob
ably stood them in.goOd stead for up
to three O'Clock these buildings had
not caught fire, although at that time
the entire block from Also north was
mass of flames. 1t was some time
before the engines which re-
sponded promptly to the alarm
succeeded in getting up steam
and by this time the flames, which
seemed to come from the rear, had
spread to No. "a and No, 36, and the
roof of No. 30 and No. 2S had COM
menced to burn. The first streams of
water en- the fire We're very weak, and
before they had obtained sufficient
force to carry them over the roof
there was but little hope of saving
anything in the entire block. The
Chinese were nearly crazy at this
time and dashed in and out of the
burning buildings after their worldly
goods, seemingly careless as to whether
they were caught in tlfe flames or not
Some OF them removed the first things
they could lay their hands
on whether valuable or not
and such confusion existed that they
greatly impe,led the free movements Of
the firemen. BY this time the crowd
had multiplied until it filed every
street leading to Chinatown and the
police had hard work in keeping
the people outside OF the fire
lines, which had been stretched
across the streets at short distances
from the fire. AS f:sst M the fire pro-
gressed the lines we're moved back,
and the people Were very well be-
haved when they saw that there was
no hope of saving this part of China
town, which has for years been de-
voted to the tim and other gambling
games. At half past two o'clock
the roof Of almost the entire
block of adobes, fell in andbamuItitude
of sparks and clnders arose' in the air
some misgiying in relation to
the building at tue rear OF Alameda
street, but on this side there WAS a
stream of water which, whise'it would
not apparently prevent the spread in
this block was able to Pat out
Siie smaller fires On the roofs below.
After it had become apparent
to- the Chinese that it was dan
gsrous AZ well as useless to
attempt to save any more Of their
goods they turned their attention to
the buildings surrounding, from which
they removed everything they could
carry out. A very exciting scene
occurred at one time during tlls-early
part of the confagration. A China
mahs wildly dashed INTO dooY and
reappeared with handle of goods,
followed by another ChinamalE with
an aplifted knife in his hand. The
first Chinaman YVES captured by
his follower and an attempt
was made to thrnst the knife
into him, but the officers were
on the ground by this time and took
the anife away. During the progress
of the fire the explosion of nulaerous
fire-eraekers and bombs frightened the
spectators and served in keeping them
away from the ropes. Then It was
rumored that there, was a large
amount of powder stored away
in one of the buildings and this proved
true, for at 10 minlstes to 3 O'Clock
there came an explosion which fright
ened the onlookers. In front of this
same building there came very near
being murder earlier in the excite
ment. The proprietor in enGeavoring
to iseep other Chinese out fred his
pisal at the wowd but for
turnteiy no one was hurt.
At half-past three O'Clock this morn
ingthe fire was still. blazing, and had
Consumed about twenty-five stores
together with most of the goods corr-
tanned therein, and the department
had not gained control. although lt'
was not considered possible for the lire
to gain hold outside Of Climate sn.
1t was stated that a
short time ago tae. varisus insurance
companies had Withdrawn their risks
on Chinatown, and if this is so,the
loss ON the Chinese will be very
| heavy, for in most cases they had
every Collar in they had in goods. At
the time Of going to press the Dire. WAS
still raging and it was currently re-
ported that three opium fiends had
been burned to death while in q
stupor. This rumor was not sub